An Update on Scholarly Productivity for Physician Assistant/Associate Faculty

Prior research has suggested that physician assistant/associate (PA) educators often cannot dedicate sufficient time to research since most of their time is committed to teaching, service, and practicing clinically. Because of the time constraints and lack of scholarship training, PA faculty are not motivated to participate in scholarly activities, resulting in burnout and low productivity.

This study examined the 2019 PA Education Association Faculty and Directors data set, focusing on descriptive and bivariate analysis of demographic characteristics, highest degree completed, academic rank, years in PA education, primary position within the PA program, and various aspects of scholarship activities such as the number and types of publications.

Nearly half (50.3%) of PA faculty reported publishing during their academic career, with a median of 3 publications in total since the start of their PA education career (interquartile range [IQR], 1-7). The data revealed that the mean number of peer-reviewed articles is 2 (IQR, 1-5), with no books and chapters published. Compared with PAs who did not publish, PA faculty who published were more likely to be male (35.4% vs. 29.1%; P = .035), to hold a doctorate (41.3% vs. 20.3%; P < .001), and to indicate their academic role as a professor (12.4% vs. 4.4%) and associate professor (33.8% vs. 12.3%; P < .001).

Although there has been some improvement regarding the number of publications, growth has been significantly slow. Although the reason for this slow growth is multifaceted, gender disparities and time and lack of funding appear to be some of the major reasons.